Minimum wage supporters call Richardville bill “dirty trick”

The petition campaign to raise Michigan’s minimum wage to 10 dollars and 10 cents an hour says it won’t be thwarted by a Republican attempt to derail it.
The campaign says it’s on track to turn in their signatures at the end of this month.

Leaders of the “Raise Michigan” coalition say they’ve already gathered enough signatures to put their question to the Legislature or, failing there, on the November ballot.

Danielle Atkinson is part of the minimum wage coalition. She says the Republican effort to circumvent the drive is a –quote- “dirty trick” that’s meant to silence the voters who signed petitions as well as the people who gathered signatures.

“We don’t think it’s morally right to stop the initiative at this time, especially when we’re so close to the finish line.”

State Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville says he sponsored the bill to derail the petition drive because he thinks a big increase in the minimum wage would wreck the state’s economy. His bill does include a smaller minimum wage hike, which the ballot campaign says is not enough to lift a full-time worker out of poverty.